2019 Photo Contest, Long-Term Projects, Stories, 3rd Prize

State of Decay

Photographer

Alejandro Cegarra

Ruben Zamora sits on his bed having lost 20 kg in three months when the homeless center he was staying in ran out of food. He died two days after the photograph.

31 March 2013 - 19 March 2018

Under Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela from 1999 to 2013, the country experienced the biggest economic boom in its history. Venezuela has the highest proven oil reserves in the world, and Chávez took office as oil prices soared in the 2000s. He channeled revenues into welfare programs and building houses for the poor. His successor, Nicolás Maduro, has overseen a country in spectacular decline. Oil prices crashed in 2014, and Maduro’s attempts to continue welfare programs led to government over-expenditure and ultimately hyperinflation, a situation compounded by US sanctions. Political tensions have escalated with increasing shortages of food, medicine and other essential items. Protests are widespread, and according to the Venezuelan NGO Observatorio de Violencia, the predicted rate of 81.4 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018 makes Venezuela the most violent country in Latin America.

The photographer picks up the story in 2013, starting with Chavez’s death, and aims to tell the story of a crumbling country from the inside.